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As Music City continues to grow both in population and as a tourist destination, the city has decided to hire someone to act as a liaison between the booming nightlife industry and Nashville residents.
On Tuesday (December 20), Mayor John Cooper announced that Benton McDonough will serve as Nashville's fist-ever "Director of Nightlife," working to address issues that impact people around the city. McDonough isn't new to working with the city, previously serving as executive director of the Metro Nashville Beer Board. According to WKRN, he will hold both roles for the foreseeable future, with a salary increase from $138,000 to $155,000.
"I'm excited to introduce Benton McDonough as our first Director of Nightlife," Cooper said in a statement on Twitter. "The new role in my office will serve as a key liaison to neighborhood residents and the nightlife industry to address quality of life issues like cleanliness, noise & safety."
Benjamin Eagles, a senior advisor to Cooper, said the new role will help "[protect] the quality of life for residents" as well as "preserving a balance between what people in the nightlife see and visitors experience." While the director of nightlife role will be a first-of-its-kind for Nashville, it's modeled from similar positions in cities like Atlanta, Austin and Washington, D.C.
"This is not unique to Nashville. We're in very good keeping with what is a proven model around the world and dozens of cities," said Eagles. "Nashville in not having a director of nightlife role has been sort of behind the eight ball relative to cities around the world."
McDonough will start off his new position by meeting with residents and businesses around the city over the next few months as part of a "listening tour," hearing their concerns and thoughts about Nashville's quality of life.